Gastonia sees rash of wandering kids

Published: Saturday, July 27, 2013 at 09:24 AM.

Misdemeanor child abuse is the go-to charge when a parent or guardian is found to be at fault when a child wanders off.

If the child or children get injured, the charge can be upgraded to felony child abuse. That didn’t happen in any of the three Gastonia cases last week.

After his arrest, Hullender was released on an unsecured bond.

The mother charged after the incident Wednesday has not been booked. Instead, she could be served a citation.

Judges can enforce various penalties on parents charged with misdemeanor child abuse.

Someone with a long criminal history could serve up to four months in jail, while someone with a clean record may be assigned probation, according to Gaston County Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Hamlin.

Two parents face child neglect charges after their young children wandered away from home.

Gastonia police responded to three separate calls in five days of children walking unattended through the streets.

In each case officers evaluated the situation before determining if a criminal act had taken place — and not all of the situations resulted in charges.

Three cases

The first call came in on July 19.

A woman was headed to East Baptist Church off Franklin Boulevard just after 11 a.m. when she spotted a small shoeless girl crying in a yard by the church.

Police tracked down the 19-month-old girl’s father sleeping in an apartment about 500 yards from where the child was found.

Timothy Hullender was charged with misdemeanor child abuse.

Five days later police got two similar calls. The first came about 7 a.m. from a woman on Church Street in Gastonia.

She drove up on two little boys walking in the street.

The 2- and 5-year-olds had apparently climbed out a window and gone for a walk while four adults slept inside the home.

No one was charged in that instance.

The third call came in just a couple of hours later. A firefighter spotted a toddler walking near an intersection by Walmart on Myrtle School Road.

The girl’s mother told police she had left her daughter with the child’s grandmother while going shopping.

The toddler’s mother was later charged with misdemeanor child abuse. Her citation has not yet been processed, so her information is still unavailable.

Child abuse

Just because a child wanders away from home doesn’t mean a parent or guardian is automatically guilty of child abuse, said Gastonia Police Sgt. Gene Weaver.

“Sometimes it’s no fault of the caretaker that the child got out,” Weaver said. “The officer takes each case on its own merit.”

Officers must consider whether the child was neglected or if the incident was merely an accident, he said.

Such cases may not always end in criminal charges, but the Gaston County Department of Health and Human Services is contacted in each instance, Weaver said.

Occasionally, social workers or family may add more details that bring about charges later on, he said.

Paying a penalty

Misdemeanor child abuse is the go-to charge when a parent or guardian is found to be at fault when a child wanders off.

If the child or children get injured, the charge can be upgraded to felony child abuse. That didn’t happen in any of the three Gastonia cases last week.

After his arrest, Hullender was released on an unsecured bond.

The mother charged after the incident Wednesday has not been booked. Instead, she could be served a citation.

Judges can enforce various penalties on parents charged with misdemeanor child abuse.

Someone with a long criminal history could serve up to four months in jail, while someone with a clean record may be assigned probation, according to Gaston County Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Hamlin.

In some cases the judge could order a person to take parenting classes.

Whether or not cases end with criminal charges, any parent or guardian should remember that they’re ultimately responsible for the welfare of children, Weaver said.

You can reach reporter Diane Turbyfill at 704-869-1817 and twitter.com/GazetteDiane.